Keyword Research Guide - Create Keyword Lists, Keyword Tools and Long Tail Suggestions

Keyword Research Intro

In this chapter I shall be discussing the importance of choosing the right keywords, where to find them and what to do with them. Following my advice can greatly increase the amount of traffic you currently receive which, in theory will result in increased sales.

Keyword Research is possibly the most important online marketing technique to get right. If you just guess what people are looking for, you take the risk that you'll be wrong, consequently missing out on huge traffic potential. So why take that risk when keyword research can give you a tremendous insight into what people are really looking for?

Step 1 - Create a list of basic keywords

Jotting down notes will get you started, but it won't give you any where near the full list of possibilities. Nevertheless, writing down what you believe to be good keywords is the best way to start.

When I start a new keyword project, my preferred method is to write down a few keywords then research competitors to see what they are doing. I read through their sites and note down the main ideas and concepts that are covered, and list what I believe to be the main keywords. I usually look at 10 websites to get a good idea of the important issues and ideas that are currently being discussed in my target industry. A great tool to check out your competition is SpyFu.

For this exercise I'll make a list of around 20 main keyword ideas. The next step is to put these keywords into a Keyword Suggestion Tool to find out how popular they really are.

Step 2 - Input Basic Keywords into a Suggestion Tool

At this point you should have a notepad with a list of keyword ideas that you believe to be the most important. Great! Now we shall visit a few keyword suggestion sites to see if you are right.

My first port of call is usually Google's free keyword suggestion tool. Primarily targeted towards AdWords users, this tool will tell you how many times a keyword gets typed in each month on Google and suggests related terms.

For example if I type in Web Design the tool generates a list of 150 keyword combinations that contain Web Design. I get results like dynamic web design, web design companies in London, budget web design etc. I only choose the keywords that are related to my business profile as you will find some keywords that don't fit.

Use that list that you created in Step 1 and type in each keyword to find related terms. This process is time consuming but should give you hundreds of keyword suggestions. Save them somewhere on your computer, preferably in Excel format. Group them into themes - for example brochure design can be grouped with name badge creation as part of a major section on graphic design.

Step 3 - Advanced Keyword Suggestion

There are other keyword tools out there that will provide you with more advanced keyword information. You will be required to pay a small fee to use them and some of them offer a free trial. Although they are not essential, using them will provide you with a better keyword set.

Wordtracker

Wordtracker is one of the most comprehensive keyword research tools on the market and offers you a free trial to test it out. The full version of Wordtracker gets keywords data from 8 major sources, including Google, MSN and Yahoo. Their keyword database is made up of around 300 million keywords typed in over the last 90 days. The interface can be daunting to start with but creating basic reports and saving them is pretty straightforward. After a short while you will be generating thousands of powerful keywords in just a matter of minutes.

Keyword Discovery

This is my personal favourite and I highly recommend you check this tool out if you are serious about keyword research. The interface is simpler to use compared to Wordtracker; making saving projects a breeze. Their keyword database is much larger too; an estimated 32 billion searches are compiled from over 180 search engines. Instead of comparing data over 90 days Keyword Discovery gives you the chance to compare over a 12 month period which is perfect for analysing seasonal trends.

Step 4 - Find Long Tail Keywords

If you want to see first page rankings within a month or two then targeting the long tail is an absolute must. The Long Tail are those 3 and 4 keyword phrases which are very specific to whatever you are selling. Going back to the web design example, my long tail keywords would be small business web site design, award winning web design and web design companies London. It is easier to get high rankings with long tail keywords than it is with shorter more competitive keywords such as web design or graphic design. Not only are they easier to rank for but they generally convert into sales better than generic searches. So where do you find long tail keywords?

You will be able to find suitable long tail keywords using Google's free keyword tool but to get quality and accurate long tail keywords it's recommended you use Wordtracker or Keyword Discovery. Simply input the keywords you have amassed in steps 1 & 2 and look for related terms that are less generic and more specific.

Next, look at the daily search counts to get an idea of the relevant importance of each term. Don't be put off by low numbers; you may find you can jump straight to the first page when targeting that term and although there may be low traffic you could find it converts well. Using this technique, you can very quickly build up a matrix of hundreds, if not thousands, of quality keywords directly related to your business.

Just remember that keyword research should be an ongoing process and it's important to experiment with different keyword combinations. If you feel like this is too much for you to handle Persona can take care of your keywords research. Contact us to find out more.

Step 5 - Input those keywords into your content

Now that you have established your target keywords, you're ready to start creating your content and insert those keywords into the relevant sections. We'll look at how to do that in the next article of the series.

This article is part of a series of Internet Marketing guides created to help your business grow online. Find more information on Online Internet Marketing [http://www.per-so-na.com/marketing]. You may also be interested in User Experience Design [http://www.per-so-na.com/experience]. See my blog to find out Make your own website.

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Keyword Lists - Their Proper Care and Feeding

One of your most important marketing assets is your Keyword List. But are you giving your Keyword List the attention it deserves? Is your Keyword List getting a little shaggy around the edges? Are your keywords becoming old and out of date? Is your Keyword List not behaving at its best, possibly due to neglect?

To properly care for your Keyword List you need to understand its different needs and functions. We can divide the list into several broad categories.

1. Master Keyword List - this list has all the keywords that you can come up with for your particular need. All other lists are taken from this Master List.

2. Pay-Per-Click List - this is a subset of the Master List and will vary depending on how you are using PPC and which search engines you are buying positions in.

3. Tag List - this subset of the Master List helps you fill in those Meta Tag fields. Although many search engines are not currently paying much attention to Meta Tags, that could change at any time and the search engines will not let us know if or when they begin watching Meta Tags again. So the safe bet is to still keep these tags properly populated.

4. Web Site List - this is another subset of the Master List and is more targeted than the PPC list. This list also helps you write powerful content on your site. And don't forget to refer to this list when setting up the Alt tags for your images (you are using Alt tags aren't you?).

5. Email List - Are you using keywords in your email? You should be. Keywords are not only used to help people find your site in search engines, but they are words people are actively searching for. Your marketing should be addressing their needs, and your keyword list shows you what they are looking for. Just like creating copy on a web page, use the keyword list to target your email campaigns as well.

So how do you go about creating the Master Keyword list? You first have to decide what you need from your keywords. Most likely you will have a product or service that will dictate the broad category for the list. As an example I will use Nikon Camera as my starting point. Maybe I have a site that specializes in information about Nikons, or I have a store that sells Nikon Cameras, or maybe I sell software that would complement a Nikon Camera. These questions and more will begin to focus your keyword search.

Start by building a basic list using this approach, you don't need to capitalize, leave everything lowercase.

nikon, nikon camera, nikon information, nikon sales, nikon software

Put down the basic keywords that spring into your head when thinking about your subject. This does not need to be an exhaustive list, just a starting point.

We now need to expand on this list by using tools freely available on the internet. My personal favorite is on Overture.com in their Resource Center. They have a valuable little tool called the Keyword Selector Tool. This tool will give you a list of keyword searches on Overture over a one month period. Simply type in your keyword and hit the button. You will get a list of keywords including the keyword you typed in and the number of searches performed on the keyword.

A search for "Nikon" came back with 100 keyword possibilities. Depending on your original keyword search you may have to clean this list up a bit before using it. For instance one of the keywords was "Nikon rifle scopes", not what I need so I will delete that one. I usually copy the information from this web page and paste it into an Excel spreadsheet where I can manipulate it as I like. Each month you may get a different set of keywords on Overture, so don't just do this one time and forget it. Keep on checking back to add more keywords to your list.

Another valuable tool is over on Google. ( https://adwords.google.com/select/main?cmd=KeywordSandbox ) You can also find this tool in the Tools section of Google AdWords. This is used like the Overture tool, simply type in your keyword and click on Get More Keywords. This search gave me 225 possible keywords, many of which I will clean out. A nice feature of the AdWords tool is that it allows you to download the list as a CSV file for use in Excel or another program.

There are many other sources for keyword lists. A good place to start is on Search Engine Watch at http://searchenginewatch.com/facts/article.php/2156041

And finally pay attention to the log files for your web site. You will have a list of searches people used to find your site. This is a very targeted list of keywords that were actually successful in driving traffic to your site.

Now that you have a huge list of keywords you are ready to create your Master Keyword List. Place all these keywords into a spreadsheet and clean out the inappropriate keywords (like "Nikon Binoculars"). Then arrange in order from most relevant to least relevant.

You need to weed this Master List down for your PPC campaign. You may find that the keywords near the top of your list are the most expensive and that the ones in the middle may have a better cost to sales ratio. But the more keywords you can use on PPC, the broader your exposure.

The top 25 should work well for your Meta Tag list. Depending on your needs you may need to remove duplicate words. Try to limit any individual word to 5 uses or less (example: don't use "nikon" more than 5 times).

The top 10 keywords are your sales words for your web site and email campaigns since these are the most tightly focused keywords in the list.

Don't forget that the needs of your list will be changing as the market place shifts. Every month or so do a new search for keywords to keep your keyword list up to date. Trim out the words that are either no longer appropriate or effective. Be sure to keep an eye on your log files. Keep your sub-lists current. And give your Keyword List the care and attention it needs to live a long and active life.

And finally, if only 4 people purchase some training off of my site due to the keywords in this article I can finally get that Nikon Camera that I have been wanting.

George Peirson is President of How To Gurus. He is the author of over 30 multimedia based tutorial training titles. To see training and other articles by George Peirson visit http://www.howtogurus.com.
Article copyright 2006 George Peirson

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